The Graduates: 2025
Students from Carnegie Mellon University set out to change the world
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A Carnegie Mellon University education provides students the tools to come together, ask bold questions, and solve complex problems that have real, tangible impact. Equipped and ready to graduate, a new class of Tartans will address critical issues facing society regionally, nationally and globally and work toward solutions that positively affect the world.
At this year’s 127th Commencement(opens in new window), held Sunday, May 11, more than 6,000 new Tartan graduates will celebrate their achievements and join the 109,900 plus CMU alumni who are delivering work that matters.
Mellon College of Science
En route to choosing a university, Maggie Blair made a pit stop. Before CMU, Blair hadn’t heard of Buggy(opens in new window), the unique Carnegie Mellon University tradition. She learned about the Sweepstakes races during a Pittsburgh campus visit. Then there was no hitting the brakes.
“Being a driver is such a small subcategory of Buggy in general,” Blair said. “Probably a few hundred people in the world have ever been a buggy driver. That’s one of the things I am most glad I did at CMU, because it’s just been such an amazing experience.”
Go inside Buggy with Maggie Blair(opens in new window).
As an EMT with CMU’s Emergency Medical Services, Blair made an impact on campus while enrolled in CMU’s Health Professions Program(opens in new window). The aspiring medical doctor from the Mellon College of Science has notched countless buggy runs down the Freerole(opens in new window) with team Apex.
Mellon College student Zach Muraskin(opens in new window), a senior graduating with his bachelor’s degree in physics(opens in new window), served as the science team lead for Iris, a rover bound for the moon. Iris, a rover the size of a shoe box, brought together students from every school at CMU and faculty and alumni.
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences
As a member of the Iris lunar rover team, Sonja Michaluk(opens in new window) and her peers took the Tartan community’s curiosity and creativity to the stars. Meanwhile, she also helped to raise thousands of dollars for environmental organizations and preserve over 250 acres of wetland and wildlife corridors here on Earth as the Tartan Mermaid. Michaluk will receive a bachelor’s degree in statistics and machine learning from the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences(opens in new window).
In the realm of psychology, Dietrich College student and Beinecke Scholar Camille Chandler explored the impact of social rejection on social risk-taking, using her own experiences as a catalyst to explore the challenges and avenues present for Black success across society. Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship recipient Noelia Flores tackled questions about the effect that confidence has on preschool children’s uptake of feedback, helping to set the stage for improved early childhood education and developmental learning.
Tatym Rasmussen, who is receiving a bachelor’s degree in global studies with a minor in psychology from Dietrich College, was one of three students to travel to a United Nations meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to advocate for landmine disarmament alongside a Nobel Peace Prize-winning nongovernmental organization.
Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
Rasmussen attended the conference with Cameron Shapiro who will also be receiving an master’s degree in public policy and management from the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy(opens in new window).
Heinz College student Mateo Dulce Rubio, who grew up in Columbia, has a personal connection to the destruction caused by landmines. He developed a three-pronged system for more accurately identifying landmine contamination. The Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies has published the research team’s paper(opens in new window) on RELand, their system, and UNMAS plans to test it in other war-torn territories.
Tepper School of Business
During the main Commencement ceremony, Michael Acquaah-Harrison(opens in new window), a business administration major in the Tepper School of Business(opens in new window), will represent the graduating class as the student speaker. Acquaah-Harrison made an impact across campus through his involvement in athletics, student leadership and mentorship.
“It’s a powerful moment to honor and reflect on the experiences that have shaped my time here, and I hope the speech creates a sense of gratitude for the journey, a deeper connection to one another, and genuine excitement for what’s ahead,” Acquaah-Harrison said.
Maressa Guynn will graduate with her MBA. In 2024, the U.S. Navy veteran was recognized as a Tillman Scholar.
“I chose the Tepper School because it allowed me to make family my top priority after leaving the military. This holistic experience has been invaluable in easing my transition into post-military life and ensuring that my loved ones remain at the heart of my journey.”
College of Engineering
From CMU’s College of Engineering(opens in new window), students like Shagun Maheshwari are hopeful to inspire change once they set out into the world. Maheshwari worked on improving stability and accuracy in machine-learning force fields for molecular dynamic simulations in Carnegie Mellon Engineering’s Mechanical AI lab. The materials science engineering student was a 2025 Innovation Scholar with CMU’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship(opens in new window).
“What I love most about the College of Engineering is that everyone you meet carries a genuine passion for making the world a better place,” Maheshwari said. “There’s a shared drive, not just to grow individually, but to lift up those around them and build a better future together. I’ve never walked away from a conversation with a friend, professor, classmate, TA or colleague without learning something new and inspiring. I’m so grateful to have been part of a community that supports and celebrates your effort to chase big dreams!”
Nicolas Gratius is a flight controller for the International Space Station whose contributions to research in digital twin frameworks(opens in new window) is helping with NASA's goal of supporting human life in outer space. He will receive his Ph.D., earned in August 2024(opens in new window) from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering(opens in new window), at commencement.
Class of 2025 Student Spotlight: College of Engineering graduate Tanvi Mittal
College of Fine Arts
Liberty Lapayowker, who is earning a Bachelor of Science and Arts in the interdisciplinary BXA program(opens in new window), crafted a three-in-one curriculum in science, drama and pre-medicine at Carnegie Mellon. At the Cook Cardiopulmonary Engineering Lab, she has gained valuable insight into preoperative, postoperative and life-support medicine. And as a talent escort at the Tony Awards, she has taken her skills in stage management all the way to the red carpet, guiding presenters on and off the stage during the course of the event.
Fellow BXA student Helen Zhang helped leave a lasting mark on the university as part of a team who helped redesign the Coulter Welcome Center on the first floor of the Tepper Building with the goal of fostering a sense of belonging through active, engaging exhibits to showcase the university’s strengths beyond academics.
Kevin Lorenzi, senior photographer for University Communications & Marketing, found that the Master of Arts in Design(opens in new window) program helps him view his favored medium in a different light.
School of Computer Science
New Ph.D. Jaemarie Solyst(opens in new window) helped run workshops for middle and high school students to understand how young kids use generative AI tools.
Julia Zhang, a double major in statistics and machine learning and artificial intelligence(opens in new window), was among a group of interns from the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center selected to represent the United States at an upcoming international high-performance computing (HPC) competition(opens in new window) for students. PSC’s Benchmark Beasts will be one of 10 teams across the world, and the only one from the U.S., competing in Hamburg, Germany.
Dongkyun Kim, another artificial intelligence major, designed the winning deep-learning model in a competition to accurately classify diseases based on chest X-rays. Kim, who credited the course Computational Perception with sparking an interest in computer vision, placed first in the Computer Vision for Automated Medical Diagnosis Chest X-Rays Long-Tailed Challenge(opens in new window), organized through the International Conference on Computer Vision(opens in new window).
